


Star Tracks

by bigGUNs



Series: Joyful Honda [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Jounouchi is a trekkie, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2014-07-20
Packaged: 2018-02-09 15:37:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1988382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigGUNs/pseuds/bigGUNs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Gee, who'd have thought a nerd like you didn't watch Star Trek."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Star Tracks

**Author's Note:**

> sequel to Rain & Rotten Luck (which you should read first, but it wouldn't be terribly confusing if you don't)

The Kaiba Mansion was undergoing some renovations— well, more like half of it was being completely reconstructed.

"I want this entire wing gutted," Seto Kaiba had instructed. "Nothing should look the same."

The idea had occurred to the young CEO in a rare moment of downtime. He had almost dismissed it as being too troublesome... But then he thought of Mokuba– who was certain to spend more time there than Kaiba himself. How was it for him to be in that place, looking so much like it had the very day they had arrived..?

Yes, he had decided, it was time for a change.

It came as somewhat of a surprised how good it felt to see new rooms and passageways form before him. It was almost as satisfying as flying from Alcatraz in the course of its self-destruct. Almost better, somehow. Perhaps because instead of leaving things in ruin, something new was being born; a better place for himself and Mokuba.

Kaiba was content to leave his bedroom more or less the way it was. His brother, on the other hand, was rather excited about the prospect of completely redoing his own. He would go on and on about all the ideas he had over their mealtimes together. His enthusiasm was rather enjoyable and got Kaiba through the more stressful parts of the renovation.

This was all why Kaiba found himself at Joyful Honda, a home center specialty store. It certainly wasn't to see Katsuya Jounouchi who was currently staring at him, his mouth agape. Over his momentary surprise, a broad grin spread across Jounouchi's face and he called out-

"Oi, Kaiba! What's up?"

It wasn't often Jounouchi had appeared so happy to see him. Kaiba decided he must be in a rather good mood.

"Need help finding something?" Jounouchi asked as he breezed over to the brunet.

"No, not really," Kaiba remarked, sliding hands into his pants pockets. "I'm not looking for anything in particular."

"Really? But you got some kind of project going on, right? I heard there's some construction going on at your place."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow at this, provoking Jounouchi to continue.

He shrugged and simply said, "You're famous. People talk."

"Hm," he acknowledged, turning his attention to the various items on the shelves around them. "Mokuba wants to change his bedroom, but he has way too many ideas."

"I bet he's real excited," the blond chuckled. "Does he have some sort of theme in mind? Maybe I can help."

Kaiba presented a doubtful appearance, but answered anyway.

"Outer space." Mokuba had really been into that sort of thing lately. "Something about 'star tracks.'"

Jounouchi gave him the most incredulous (and ridiculous) look.

"Do you mean  _Star Trek_?"

"Probably."

"... And you don't know what that is?" Jounouchi almost laughed as he spoke. What was so funny about that?

Kaiba crossed his arms in annoyance and confirmed Jounouchi's suspicions. He just stood there staring at the taller man for a moment until he began to shake his head.

"Gee, who'd have thought a nerd like you didn't watch Star Trek."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Star Trek! Probably the biggest sci-fi franchise in the world! You  _really_  haven't heard of it?"

"Except what Mokuba's said about it, no," Kaiba returned flatly. "I don't exactly have the time to sit around and watch "the biggest sci-fi franchise in the world." I have a company to run."

Jounouchi wondered how many times Kaiba must say that on a regular basis, as if nobody knew.

"Well, we got some Star Trek stuff around if ya want me to show ya," he offered, trying to quell his amusement.

Letting out a brisk sigh, Kaiba responded that he supposed it couldn't hurt and followed the other further into the store.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Jounouchi was still hovering around even after he had showed Kaiba what must certainly be every Star Trek item in stock at Joyful Honda. Not to mention telling him about all the best websites to buy from.

He stood but a few feet away, staring vacantly down the aisle and biting the corner of his bottom lip.

"Thanks for your help," Kaiba said, waving in an offhanded way. "But I don't need anything else."

"Oh, uh... Right. It's just..." Kaiba turned his head at the uncertainty in the man's voice.

"I got this job because of you," Jounouchi blurted out.

"I know, um... About the letter you sent," he clarified and rubbed the back of his neck. "I wanted to say, well, thanks."

Kaiba went back to the shelf of lamps he had been inspecting and said nothing.

"Hey." He heard Jounouchi advance toward him. "I said thanks."

"Yes, I heard."

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"WELL, a normal person would say "you're welcome,"" he went on, beginning to sound irate. "Or offer some sort of explanation, y'know!"

"You said I got you this job, but you seem to be under the impression that I could not just as easily have you fired."

The way Kaiba said this so coolly ticked Jounouchi off and he gritted his teeth as not to yell.

"Then why'd you get me hired in the first place?!" he ground out.

"I don't know."

Well, that was certainly the last thing Jounouchi had expected him to say. He really didn't know  _what_  he had expected, but this wasn't something he imagined he'd ever hear Seto Kaiba say. Not to him.

"Maybe I just felt sorry for a poor, drenched mutt."

Ah. That was more like it.

Jounouchi found himself laughing. If he'd had his eyes open, it's sure he would have laughed at Kaiba's shocked face as well.

"I can't believe you," he worked out through his laughter.

Kaiba's expression was quickly replaced with one of displeasure.

"Sorry." Kaiba got the distinct impression that he wasn't. "I really mean it though, thanks."

"Whatever."

Jounouchi was smiling again.

"You should really think about watching Star Trek. You'd probably love it." He absently scratched at his cheek before going on, "Maybe we can all watch it together some time; you, Mokuba 'n me."

 _Special assistance needed at the hardware desk. Special assistance needed at the hardware desk_ , a pleasant, but robot-like voice chimed over the intercom.

"Er, that'll be me. Good luck on the kiddo's room!" Jounouchi said, quickly walking away backwards. "See ya," he shouted before turning around and sprinting off.

Kaiba stood there, blinking stupidly at Jounouchi's retreating form before it rounded a corner and disappeared.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Kaiba had gone to pick up his brother from school and had just returned with him to the hotel suite they had been occupying during the renovation.

Mokuba immediately went to the minibar and grabbed a large cookie before plopping himself down at the dining room table. Kaiba, however, made himself busy at the one-cup coffee maker, pulling out a mug from the shelf above; the recognizable logo of his corporation emblazoned on it in yellow.

"So, big brother," Mokuba started, eagerly unwrapping his treat, "do anything interesting today?"

"Not really. I did go to Joyful Honda to see if they had anything we could use for your room though."

"What? Why didn't you take me?" the young boy practically pouted, taking a bite out of his cookie.

"I was just looking. Besides, you were in school."

"Coulda taken me out. Not like I'd miss much..."

Kaiba shot his brother a wary look that had Mokuba pretending he hadn't said that last bit and turned around to the backpack hanging on his chair.

"Well, did you at least find anything?" he asked, pulling out a couple of school books.

"They had quite a bit of Star Trek merchandise, but I didn't know what you'd want. The deadbeat also gave me this list of webstores." He pulled a folded up scrap of paper from his pocket and slid it over the table.

"Deadbeat?" Mokuba repeated as he unfolded the paper. "Jounouchi?"

"Mm." Kaiba nodded, taking a sip of his coffee.

"What was he doing there?"

"He works there."

"Oh." Then the boy's face lit up, "So he likes Star Trek too?! That's cool."

Kaiba paused for a moment, holding his mug inches from his face, before bringing it to his lips and mumbling, "He said I should watch it."

 "You should!" Mokuba agreed excitedly, almost jumping onto the table.

"Maybe... I should see if it's suitable for you to watch. If Jounouchi enjoys it, who knows?"

" _Big brother_..."

"Anyway, I'll take you there this weekend."

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

He should never have taken Mokuba there, Kaiba decided.

Somehow after that last trip to Joyful Honda, arrangements had been made and Kaiba was now sandwiched between his brother and Katsuya Jounouchi.

They were sitting on the plush couch of the Kaibas' suite ("Must be pretty convenient to have your own hotel, huh?" Jounouchi had said upon his arrival) only a few feet away from the impressive high-definition television mounted on the wall. The younger two had made popcorn- the bowl had ended up in Kaiba's lap, naturally- and raided all the snacks at the minibar. Kaiba had been trying to do some work from his laptop, but Mokuba's pleas eventually got the better of him. He wasn't going to get much work done with those two around anyway.

That's how he ended up between them in the midst of a Star Trek marathon.

They'd been at it for hours now, Kaiba wasn't even sure anymore just how many episodes had gone by. He had really been trying to get into it, if only for Mokuba's sake. But he seemed to wind up only paying half attention to any given episode; too absorbed in his own thoughts or distracted by Jounouchi's messy eating.

William Shatner's now-familiar voice was giving the opening monologue when the blond leaned over and chuckled quietly. Kaiba was puzzled until Jounouchi pointed to his left. Mokuba was asleep, his raven haired head down on the armrest and a half-eaten brownie still in his hand.

"Guess it's past his bedtime, huh?" Jounouchi joked as Kaiba got up.

He reappeared moments later with a blanket and draped it over the sleeping boy.

"Hey, um, do you mind if I stay for the rest of this episode?" Jounouchi asked softly. "It's one of my favorites."

"Sure."

Kaiba returned to his seat on the couch. He had thought about getting back to his work, but he was simply too tired now. He could have gone to bed, but it didn't feel right to do so with Jounouchi still here. Then why did he say he could stay? Kaiba blamed it on his exhausted state. All he had to do now was outlast this episode.

_"Get into the ship! Immediate lift off!"_

_A boulder flew at them and pinned Mr. Spock against a rock._

_"No! Go back! Lift off! Go back! No!"_

_McCoy and Boma had both turned back to help their fallen comrade, they had only seconds before_ — a heavy weight pressed against Jounouchi's shoulder.

Kaiba had fallen asleep.

For a moment, he could only stare at this unusual sight. Kaiba seemed almost... peaceful. None of that usual scathing seriousness in his face now.

He wondered if he should still leave as the credits began to roll... He decided it was enough finding out what a Sleeping Seto Kaiba was like, he didn't want to find out what a Just Woken Seto Kaiba was like. Luckily, the remote control was on the table next to him. He carefully reached for it and turned off the television.

He gave the man next to him one last glance before letting himself close his eyes and drifted off with a smile on his face.


End file.
